David Axelrod: Biden ‘serially’ distorts his record

Political commentator David Axelrod issued a warning to former Vice President Joe Biden after recent comments by the White House contender have sparked controversy.

“It’s one thing to have a well-earned rep for goofy, harmless gaffes. It’s another if you serially distort your own record. @JoeBiden is in danger of creating a more damaging meme,” Axelrod said in a tweet on Friday. 

It’s one thing to have a well-earned rep for goofy, harmless gaffes. It’s another if you serially distort your own record. @JoeBiden is in danger of creating a more damaging meme.https://t.co/ThCVCz4Fjb

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) September 6, 2019

Axelrod, who was chief strategist to former President Obama, linked in his tweet to a story from Slate titled “When Did Joe Biden Start Believing He Had Opposed the Iraq War?”

The Slate attention adds to recent scrutiny over Biden’s comments about his support to authorize the Iraq War in 2002, which was first brought to attention by CNN KFile.

The Washington Post last week reported that Biden has reportedly misstated facts in a war story he has retold on multiple occasions. The former vice president has defended his comments saying he was correct about the “essence” of the story correct.

Biden’s campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

Biden has also struggled in recent weeks with verbal gaffes, including mixing up New Hampshire and Vermont.

Biden appeared on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert and addressed his latest slip-ups. 

“I think it’s fair to go after a political figure for anything, OK,”  he said. “I mean we stand up, it comes with the territory, but here’s the deal: any gaffes I have made, and I have made gaffes like every politician I know has, have been not about a substantive issue, have been about I’m trying to talk about what other people have done.”